Endymion
by SolanaLeonhart
Summary: First Fic! This is a somewhat different version of Fairy Tail with my OC included as a member of Team Natsu. It generally follows the anime with some differences. It starts a bit after Lucy's arrival in Fairy Tail.
1. Chapter 1

Endymion

_Summary: First fic! This is a slightly different version of Fairy tail, with my OC included as a member of Team generally follows the anime with some twists. It starts right as Natsu and Happy bring Lucy over to Fairy tail._

_Disclaimer: Don't own Fairy Tail._

The kingdom of Fiore was one that thrived with magic since ancient times. People have delved deep into many types of magic and mastered them.

Throughout time, guilds have spread out through the continent, taking whatever job requests people bring them. This story is about one such guild, it goes by the name of Fairy tail.

'I can't believe this...' A girl about eighteen with blond hair and brown eyes stood in Fairy tail's entrance, eyeing the mess before her in shock. She was Lucy, a celestial mage who had been brought here by Fairy tail's Salamander, Natsu Dragneel the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Somehow the pink haired teen's arrival seemed to have aroused the hotheaded members of the guild and Lucy wasn't sure how, but a great fight erupted in less than a minute.

She was now standing near the bar with Happy the blue cat and Mirajane Strauss, the waitress and bartender, who incredibly enough in Lucy's opinion, was eyeing the fight with a big smile.

'Does this happen a lot?'

'Try everyday, we're used to this,' Happy replied.

'You're kidding...' Lucy said.

'Nope! They always do this and Natsu loves it.'

'I'm sure he does...' She muttered.

'I think that's fine. The guild wouldn't be the same if they weren't all so energetic,' Mira said happily.

'Energetic is putting it nicely...' Lucy blanched when she saw that a flying cup was headed their way and she quickly pulled Mira down and watched it hit the wall, sighing in relief.

'Oh, thank you!' The woman said.

'Don't worry about it...' She sweatdropped.

The door opened again and a new voice said. 'Natsu's back, huh? Should've known that's what the chaos was about.'

Happy tilted his head to the side. 'Hey, Hope.'

Mira did the same 'Welcome back.'

'Hey guys,' a boy about 15 with messy light brown hair and royal blue eyes that faded into blond near the ends walked in. He wore a blue and gray tunic with a gold design along with gray pants and dark boots. He seemed relatively calm and actually cute, in a cuddly sense.

'How was the job?' Mira asked.

'A pain.' The boy frowned. 'He just forced it on me to get out of it.'

'I can see him doing that too...' Happy said.

He stopped, noticing Lucy and asked who she was. It was Happy who she answered. 'We met Lucy in Hargeon. She's a celestial mage who wants to join up.'

'Huh,' he smiled kindly at the girl and said. 'I'm Hope Dreyar, nice to meet you.'

'Likewise,' Lucy responded and they shook hands.

'I've never met a celestial mage before. You guys make contracts with spirits and stuff, right?' He asked as they took their seats.

'Yeah, that's about right.' Lucy said.

Hope paused, remembering something. 'Say, Happy, what was that about anyway? You guys rushed into Hargeon looking really psyched. Was the job that good?'

'Nah, it wasn't anything like that...'

'...You guys do realize that there's no way Igneel would actually be in a town, right? Especially after all this time...' Hope sweatdropped as he heard what happened.

'Thank you! That's exactly what I said.' Lucy said.

'I guess we got carried away...' The cat sighed.

'Well, no one said it was going to be easy.' Happy blinked as Hope picked him up. 'See, Natsu's not down about it and neither should you be.'

'You're right.' Happy smiled.

Lucy found herself smiling too. This boy seemed like a really positive and kind person, apparently living up to his name.

Mira seemed to read her thoughts because she asked 'His name fits him, right?'

'Yeah.'

'So...' Hope raised an arm and a silvery-gray magic circle. A similar circle flashed under Natsu, Gray, Cana and Jet.

'Hey, Hope, what's the big idea?' Gray demanded.

'I just did you a favor. This way you won't have to deal...' He stopped as a giant black hand materialized and hit the other fighting members and everyone except Hope and Mira and cringed. 'With that.' The boy finished.

Lucy gaped at the black figure on the stairs 'W-what is that? A monster?!'

'Relax, Lucy, it's just Master.' Mira said, looking back as Makarov stepped out.

'Wow...' Lucy said after Makarov's speech.

'Master's never serious about this kind of stuff...' Happy put in.

Aforementioned man walked up to them. Hope turned to him. 'You really get them fired up, Grandpa.'

'It's a gift, my boy,' he said proudly. 'And who's this?'

'A new member.'

Lucy introduced herself and added that she wished to join the guild. Makarov smiled 'So, where would you like your guild mark to be?'

'Eh? I'm in just like that?' She couldn't believe it.

'Sure! More's the merrier, I always say,' he replied.

'Thank you!'

'Natsu, look! I got my mark!' Lucy said happily, flashing the pink emblem on her hand.

But it seemed he couldn't care less at the moment because he wouldn't even look at her. 'Good for you, Luigi.'

'It's Lucy!' She corrected with a frown.

'Uh, for what it's worth, congrats.'

Lucy turned to Hope as he walked over to them. 'Thanks.'

'If you need any help, just ask.' The boy offered.

'I'll get back to you on that but thanks again.'

3 days later, Hope was sitting on the ledge near the river with his and Natsu's bags. He glanced at the building behind him and sighed.

A loud bang followed by a cry came from the building and he looked back with a start, just in time to notice something blue flying out of the window. The boy snapped his fingers and silvery gray wings appeared on his back, enabling him to catch the thing, which turned out to be Happy.

Hope landed, waving a hand over the dizzy cat. Tinted light emanated from his palm, healing the bump on Happy's head. 'I told you guys this was a bad idea.'

'Sorry...'

'Jeez...' The two saw Lucy dragging Natsu outside. 'What's the big idea, sneaking into my house like that?'

'You're overreacting! We just wanted to ask you something!'

'You could have done it differently, idiot!'

Hope heaved another sigh, deciding to diffuse the situation before it got worse.

Natsu saw the approaching Hope and said 'Hey, a little help! She's going to kill me!'

'Working on it,' he responded. 'Sorry about them, Lucy. We figured you might want to come on a job with us.'

She blinked. 'Yeah? What's going on?'

Lucy learned that a member of their guild, Macao, had gone missing. He had a job hunting vulcans in the mountains but he hadn't returned and after seeing Macao's son, Romeo, Natsu decided to go look for the man and Hope and Happy tagged along. She agreed and the four went on their way,

'You think he was overwhelmed by the vulcans?' Lucy asked.

'I don't know. Macao's a tough cookie...' Natsu responded. 'Good thing I didn't bring Ice boy, he'd love it here.'

She raised an eye and looked at eye 'Ice boy?'

'Gray,' the cat replied. 'They just don't get along.'

'That's because he's annoying.' Natsu said.

'He says the same thing about you.'

'Oh, yeah? Then he's an annoying copycat!'

'It's a good thing you're excited but how about you save the energy for when we get up the mountain? You're going to need it.' Hope advised.

'Fine...' Natsu said. 'You know I've been thinking of making a team. How about it? We go on a lot of missions together and we'd make a pretty sweet group.'

'Sounds good. Anybody else you want to put?'

'I dunno...' He thought about it.

'How about Erza?' Hope suggested.

'I don't think so...you know why...' Natsu said.

'Yeah...how about...' Hope suggested a couple of more people but Natsu shot the ideas down.

'Hey, guys, you're not forgetting about me, right?' Happy asked.

'No way,' the two replied in tandem, making him sigh in relief.

'If it's us, you're a given, Happy. That's why we didn't mention you,' Hope explained, with agreeing nods from Natsu.

'Those two really get along, huh?' Lucy noted, watching them talk.

'Yeah, they've been best friends for years.' Happy informed.

'Huh...'

'It's too cold...' Lucy shivered as the four stood on the snowing mountain.

'Well, it can't be helped with you wearing that.' Happy said.

'You're one to talk! You're not even wearing anything!'

'Yeah, but I can take it.'

'That's the way, Happy, let's go!' Natsu said.

'Aye, sir!' They began trudging on the snow.

'Wait...' Lucy stopped. 'Well, if it's come to this there's no choice.' She took one of her keys out. 'Gate of the Clock, I open thee! Holorogium!'

The clock spirit emerged in a flash of light, Lucy happily got into his chamber.

''Ahh, much better.'' She says.' Holorogium translated.

'Lame!' Natsu said.

'It really is.' Happy agreed.

''No, it isn't!'' She protests.'

Hope tilted his head a little 'So, you're really going like this the whole way?'

''Yup, it's just fine! She assures.''

Natsu raised an eye. 'Suit yourself.'

' ''Come to think of it, Hope, what magic do you have?'' She asks. '

'Well...' Hope stopped, seeing that they had reached two roads.

'What do we do?' asked Happy.

'Easy. you guys take this side and I'll take the other one.' Hope replied.

Natsu, always pleased to have a quick answer, agreed. 'All right, let's go.'

' ''Wait a second, you're going on your own?'' She asks.' Holorgium put in.

'Yeah, it's fine. I've done worse besides, you're going to need some back up.' Hope said.

' ''Eeh, why me?'' She wants to know.'' '

'Holorogium, correct me if I'm wrong but you don't look like a spirit that battles much.' Hope said to the spirit.

'No, you're very right.'

'I figured as much. No offense meant but if you're going to stay inside him than you're going to need lookouts for any possible monsters.' Hope pointed out.

' ''You think there's monsters here?'' She asks, shaken.'

'Beats me, but Macao-san did come hunting vulcans so we can't be too careful.' The boy responded. 'You're going to be fine, just relax. See you guys later.'

'Yeah,' Natsu replied, watching him go.

' ''Easy for him to say,'' She says.'

'Would you relax already? If Hope says it's fine, then it's fine. Let's go,' Natsu said.

Surprised by the immense trust in his friend, Lucy agreed.

This, Happy reflected, was a good reason that they should listen to Hope's advice more.

Because what happened? A while after they split up, a vulcan kidnapped Lucy when it began to snow really hard. And just like Hope had guessed, the girl couldn't do much inside Holorogium so she was easily taken.

He and Natsu had gone into a cave after them and found the Vulcan trying to woo Lucy. Natsu started battling him while the girl got her keys.

But just as he was about to unleash a spell, Natsu was knocked aside by the Vulcan, resulting in him being pushed down the cliff.

'Natsu!' Happy made to fly over to him but the Vulcan got in his way and swatted him aside.

'No!' Lucy scowled at the Vulcan before taking a golden key. 'Gate of the Cow, I open thee! Taurus!'

The axe wielding humanoid cow emerged, landing with a pose. He grinned at Lucy. 'Lucy-sama, your body is nice as ever.'

'What's with him?' Happy asked, confused.

'I'm learning to ignore that attiude,' Lucy sighed. 'Taurus, this is our enemy. Take him out!'

'Yes, ma'am!' He struck the beast down with a single blow.

'He's tough...' Happy said.

Lucy beamed proudly 'Right?'

'...for a pervert.'

'Hey!' But she really couldn't argue with that.

'This is nothing for me!' Taurus declared, going to take the Vulcan out.

Then, the last thing anyone expected happened, the spirit was punched by Natsu.

'Natsu?!' Lucy said.

'Oi, when'd the other monster come up?' He asked.

'That's my spirit! He's not a monster,' the girl said irritably.

He blinked 'Eh? That's a spirit?'

'Never mind that, Natsu, are you okay?' asked Happy.

The pink haired teen grinned. 'Sure thing! Thanks to him.' He pointed his finger back and they saw Hope flying in over the cliff.

'Hope!'

'There's more of you?' The vulcan snarled. 'Fine! You're going down all the same!'

'Oh, yeah? Bring it on, tough guy,' Natsu hit his fists together. He dodged the beast's fist. 'This is how you throw a punch! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!'

The vulcan was sent flying by the force of the flaming fist, surprising Lucy. But then the girl yelped, because the beast was crashing towards the still unconscious Taurus.

Hope ran in the same direction, a silvery grey energy circle materialized underneath his feet and he cast 'Holy God's Shining Tornado!'

A tornado of light shot out, sending the vulcan crashing into the opposite wall.

'Whoa, what kind of magic is that?' Lucy wondered.

Happy had the answer. 'Hope's a Holy God Slayer. It's a form of lost magic. It lets him manipulate light like Natsu does with fire.'

'I never heard of this before...'

'Lucy, is your friend getting up?' She gave the cat a confused look so Happy pointed her at Taurus, whose soul seemed to be coming out of his body.

'Would you get a hold of yourself already?!'

'He's lame too...' Happy deadpanned.

Taurus sat up with a grunt, noticing the vulcan was up. 'No! I will protect Lucy-sama's nice body from you, fiend!' He struck the creature hard with his axe again.

'...Not that he's not tough or anything but that was just weird...' Hope sweatdropped.

'No kidding...' Natsu turned as the Vulcan took a step back. 'Let's wrap this up! Fire Dragon's Roar!'

And the fiery vortex ended up taking the beast down. Happy cheered 'All right!'

'Easy,' Natsu smirked.

'Very,' Taurus concurred.

'Uh, guys, why is he glowing?' Lucy asked, pointing them at the fact that the vulcan really was glowing.

The creature began to shrink, down to the size of a man. It was only when the light faded did they recognize the person that appeared...

'Macao?!'

It turned out that after Macao had taken out 19 vulcans, the 20th one had ambushed him and taken over his body. Hope had healed him without preamble so they were quickly back in Magnolia, where they ran into Romeo first and the boy happily hugged his father.

'Thanks a lot, you guys,' Macao said.

Lucy, who was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that the man took down 19 vulcans, didn't answer. But Natsu and the others assured him that he was more than welcome.

_Well, that's it for the first chapter. Sure hope you like it. I'd appreciate reviews and constructive critcism as they motivate me and help me improve. I did this one out of pure memory but I'm going to start checking out the episodes again. Like I said before, this story will definitely follow the anime but I'll sneak in twists of my own. _

_Solana Leonhart out!_


	2. Chapter 2

Lucy watched Natsu and Gray argue with a raised eye and thought ''I knew that Happy said they don't get along but that's just ridiculous...''

It seemed to her that everytime she had seen those two, they were at each other's throats. The others seemed to be very used to this so she said nothing about it.

She was settling down nicely in Magnolia, learning about how things work in a guild thanks to Mirajane and was getting in some good jobs now. Still, try as she might get used to things, Fairy Tail was just full of surprises.

'These are the fights of a Man!' Elfman said, watching them with interest.

'Well, those men are going to have to stop soon.' Cana began.

'Butt out, Cana, flame brain's going to get what's coming to him.' Gray said.

'That's my line!'

She gave them a bored look 'Fine, then I won't tell you that Erza's coming back from her job today.'

The sentence, simple as it was, seemed to affect practically everyone. Lucy noted with surprise...was it just her or had almost everyone present straightened their acts out?

Hope made his way to the guild, noting the sudden quietness. He walked in, noticing that things seemed to be the same as ever but there was tension. He looked around and saw the answer at the bar.

'Oh, hey, Erza, I didn't know you came back.'

The scarlet haired woman looked at him and smiled 'Well, hello there, Hope. How are you?'

'Pretty good, you?'

'Same here.'

'No need to ask how the job was. I know those monsters didn't stand a chance.' The boy said, sitting down.

'That's for sure.' Mira agreed.

'You're overreacting, both of you.' She responded.

'That's not a no, right?' Hope said with a cheeky grin that made Mira giggle.

'So...er, what's that thing exactly?' The God Slayer pointed at the huge white object near the stairs which was decorated with a number of red and blue gems. '...It looks like a fang.'

'It is. One of the townspeople took it off the monster and presented like this as a souvenir. Very kind of him, wouldn't you say?' Erza asked, looking at the item with a smile.

'Ah...yeah,' Hope said, he should be surprised. But this was Erza after all.

'Okay, this is too much...'

Happy gave Lucy a puzzled look. 'What's wrong?'

'Mira-san I can understand but how come only Hope is acting normally around her?'

'Well, Erza's...' The cat paused. 'How do I put this?'

'She doesn't look scary at all, just strict.' Lucy put in, recalling her criticizing many members when she came in.

'...Don't judge a book by its cover.'

'?'

Erza noticed the reddish drink in Hope's cup and frowned. That looked like...'Hope, you haven't started drinking like the other men or anything, right?'

'What? No way, this is my medicine.' He said with a raised eye.

Mira decided to step in. 'He said the pill's hard to swallow so we decided to liquify them.'

'Ah, my apologies.' Erza said.

'Don't worry about it.' Hope responded, drinking it up in one go and making a face at the very bitter taste. 'Mira-san, do you have anything to get rid of the taste?'

'Coming right up!'

'So, I take it things are the same as always here?'

Hope nodded in answer to Erza's question and saw her look at Natsu and Gray. 'You two aren't fighting, right?'

They stiffened. 'N-no way!' Gray said, hanging an arm around Natsu's shoulder.

The pink haired teen did the same, forcing a grin 'Y-yeah, what gave you that idea? We're best buds!'

'Yeah, exactly.'

'My,' Mira beamed while Lucy, Hope and Happy sweatdropped.

'That's good. As guildmates we should all get along.' She smiled.

'Aye, sir!' Natsu and Gray put in.

'Seriously? One Happy's enough, thank you!' Lucy said.

Hope glanced at the aforementioned cat 'They do a pretty good impression of you though...'

'I know, right?' He responded, unperturbed by the information.

'Besides...' Erza began and they gave her curious looks.

'What's up?' Gray asked.

'I want you, Hope and Natsu to come with me on a job.' She admitted.

'Hold on, Hope coming along is fine with me but you want him too?' Natsu blurted.

Gray facepalmed and muttered 'Idiot...' while Erza's eyes narrowed as she asked.

'Didn't you just say you were getting along?'

He froze up 'O-oh, right, yeah, we were! Just surprised, that's all. Never mind me!'

'Ignoring that for now, what's this job about?' Gray asked, sitting down. 'Seems big if you want the three of us to come.'

Hope nodded in agreement, turning his full attention to Erza as she spoke. 'It is. On my way back I heard some rumors. They were talking about the guild called Eisenwald, a dark guild.' She frowned. 'Unfortunately, I didn't remember why that name sounded familiar until I came back but never mind that. I plan to stop them. Will you help me?'

'Sure,' Hope said.

'Yeah, why not?' Gray put in.

'You bet! When do we start?' Natsu grinned.

'Tomorrow.'

'Erza used to beat them senseless every time they started fighting,' Happy replied to Lucy's query.

'Huh, so that's why Natsu and Gray are afraid of her...'

Everyone except Erza was in the train station, preparing for their trip to Onibus town where Eisenwald was.

'Erza just worries too much. I bet we'll be enough on our own, no need to get any extra luggage.' Natsu said, looking at a certain ice mage.

'Yeah? I'm wondering who's the extra luggage here,' Gray responded.

The fire dragon slayer scowled 'You wanna go at it, ice princess?'

'Thought you'd never ask, you pyromaniac,' they were standing very close to another, wearing matching glares and surrounded by red and blue auras.

'There they go again...' Hope said.

Lucy sighed 'They're too much...'

'Say, Lucy, why'd you come along?' asked Happy.

'Mira-san asked me to. She says Natsu and Gray are definitely going to fight all the time even with Erza being there and Hope trying to stop them...' she paused, noticing the God Slayer going on to do that. '...so she wants some help around. By the looks of it, I'd say they need all the help they can get.'

'Better men then you have tried,' Happy said sagely.

Hope went up to them. 'Okay, don't you think that's enough? Erza said she wants all of us here so there's got to be a good reason for it. I think we'd all appreciate it if we tone it down, besides, we all work together, no matter the situation in a job, isn't that right?'

'Yeah...' The two replied reluctantly. It was true. That was one of the reasons Fairy Tail was the most famous, accomplished guild. (_Actually it's the most destructive too, but that's beside the point_).

'Just try and take it easy. Maybe it could help in the future, should you be really forced to work together. Besides, what're you going to do if Erza sees this?' The boy added.

'...Point taken,' Natsu said.

'Yeah, glad there's one mature guy on this job,' Gray added, getting the teen to scowl at him.

Happy flew up 'That was much less chaotic than I thought...'

'Don't say something like that so calmly!' Lucy said as Hope sat down next to them. 'Come to think of it, are you okay?'

He turned to her 'Well, I just say you taking some medicine yesterday...'

The boy smiled a bit. 'Oh, that. I'm fine, thanks. My health hasn't exactly been great so I've been taking that to give me some boost. It helps.'

'I see.'

Then Erza's voice came 'Good, you're all here.'

Lucy began turning to face her 'Good mor...what's all that?!'

'That' was actually Erza's luggage. The armored mage had brought quite a lot in fact. So much so that it was easily twice her size and she had to drag it on a cart.

Noone besides her was surprised though. 'Erza's really careful about making sure she doesn't forget anything.' Hope explained.

'So she's moving her whole house with her?' The celestial mage said in disbelief.

'Everything all right here?' Erza queried.

Natsu and Gray assumed the same position they had yesterday when she questioned them and replied 'Aye!'

'All right,' it was then that she noticed Lucy. 'Oh, you were in the guild yesterday, weren't you?'

'Yeah, I'm a new member. My name's Lucy. Mira-san thought it would be good for me to come with you guys and get some experience. Is that all right?'

'Of course, you're more than welcome to join us.'

Lucy saw, at the corner of her eye, that Natsu and Gray were nearly bickering like before and thought ''This is going to be way, way harder than I expected...''

The group was soon settled in a room on the train quickly. Only one person had problems with that...

'What's with him?' Lucy pointed at Natsu, who looked very queasy and blue in the face.

Gray rolled his eyes 'He gets motion sickness, big time.'

'That's right.' Before anyone knew it, Erza knocked Natsu out with a single punch.

'Whoa...' Lucy cringed.

'You didn't have to do that. I was going to fix him up.' Hope pointed out.

Erza blinked. 'I'm sorry, I completely forgot you could.'

'Well, I guess it does make it easier on him...' Happy said, eyeing the unconscious Dragon Slayer.

'Yeah...'

Soon they began to discuss the mission. Erza explained that she had overheard some people talking about the dark guild they were going to face. She couldn't get the details but it was clear that Eisenwald was planning something big. The names Erigor, the guild's ace and Lullaby were mentioned, though Erza admitted she wasn't sure what the other one meant.

'Lullaby...' Lucy frowned. 'I think I heard that name somewhere...'

'Where?' Gray asked.

'I can't remember...I think it was some magical item though.'

'Well, that's a start...'

'This is kind of vague, you know.' Gray said.

'I realize that but it can't be helped.' Erza responded.

'I don't see them causing this much trouble, you know,' Happy put in.

'Don't ever say such a thing. We can never be too careful. Especially with dark guilds, am I clear?' Erza asked with a stern voice.

'C-crystal, ma'am,' the intimidated cat replied.

Lucy and Gray had similar freaked out looks at her expression with the first thinking Natsu was lucky enough not to deal with that, the tension in the room seemed to double after Erza finished talking.

Hope was the one to break the silence and his friends silently commended his courage. 'I think you've got a point but you can't get everyone too wound up either or they'll just mess up when it really counts. We've never done a job half-heartedly anyway. We always give it all we got during missions.'

'I suppose you have a point, Hope.' The armored mage relented and the others began to relax. 'Extremeness could be dangerous too...'

He nodded, smiling. 'We just need to take it slow and careful.'

'Sounds good to me. Who's up for a bite?' Gray asked everyone present.

'I think I lost count of how many times I've said this but Hope's a real life saver...' Gray sighed as they got off the train.

'I see your point. He could be an awesome diplomat,' Lucy agreed. 'And I'm starting to see why you were all afraid of Erza...'

'If you think that's bad, just be glad you haven't seen her when we were kids.' The ice mage muttered.

Her mouth fell in shock 'You mean she was actually was worse?!'

'And how...'

Erza noticed that the God Slayer of the group was looking around for something. 'Is something wrong?'

'I'm confused. Wasn't Natsu just here? I'm pretty sure he was about to get off when we did but I don't see him anywhere...'

It was then that they noticed that the Fire Dragon Slayer was nowhere in sight. 'You don't think he's...' Lucy said.

'Still on the train? This is bad,' Happy finished.

Having been healed by Hope, Natsu was about to leave the train when something black blocked his way out. He wasn't even sure what it was but it was really hard and he was about to try and break it only to be startled by the train's horn. Realizing that this meant it was about to move, he attacked quickly but his fist just seemed to bounce off.

'What's going on?!'

'It's no use, Salamander.' He turned arround to see a man with black hair smirking at him. 'You can't get through my magic so easily.'

'Your magic? Who the heck are you?'

'I'd tell you my name but I don't see the need to bother on such a worthless opponent.'

Natsu's temper flared at the insult. 'I'll show you worthless! Take this...' He made to attack but stopped as he was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of nausea. Why? Because the train started moving.

'Talk about pathetic,' Natsu's opponent cackled as he kicked the motion sick teen. 'This is a Fairy Tail wizard? You suck, kid!' He went closer 'I'm a busy guy so I'll wrap this up! Shadow...' He didn't get to finish the spell because the train had come to a sudden halt then. 'What the...?!'

Natsu got up then, feeling better. 'All right! Now I can...' He blinked, getting a glimpse of an odd flute that had a three eyed skull on top. 'What's that?'

The man whirled around to him in alarm. Natsu decided to put that aside for the moment and attacked, his opponent barely getting to stop him.

Then a voice could be heard over the speakers 'Our sincerest apologies. It seems this was just a false alarm.'

Natsu panicked as the train began to move and jumped out of the closest window, suddenly butting heads with Gray, causing the two to faint and not noticing that the others had arrived in a Magic Four Wheeler to catch up to the train.

'So that guy stopped you from leaving?'

'Yeah, it was almost like he knew me. I didn't get to fight because the stinkin' train started to move and you guys showed up...' Natsu explained.

Happy went to him 'Natsu, did the guy have anything weird on him?'

He tilted his head a little, thinking it over. 'Oh, yeah! There was this old flute with a skull, does that count?'

'This is bad...' Eyes travelled to Lucy. 'Now I remember...that thing was Lullaby.'

'What do you mean?' Natsu asked.

'I read about Lullaby in a book. It's the Song of Death. Lullaby's a flute that can drain the life-force of anyone who hears it,' the blonde explained, getting shocked reactions from the rest. 'That guy must have been from Eisenwald.'

Erza grit her teeth 'We have to hurry!'

Meanwhile, the man who attacked Natsu. Kageyama, had arrived in the next station and met up with his guildmates. He immediately went to a certain ace.

'Erigor-san, I've got Lullaby.'

The man smirked 'Good, let's begin.'


	3. Chapter 3

The guildmasters had all gathered up in Clover town for their regular meeting. All eager to talk about their guilds with matching amounts of pride. The building it was situated in was quaint but it definitely fit the occasion.

Quattro Cerberus' Master Goldmine, a man in his thirties with dirty blond hair and dark clothes with sunglasses made a direct contrast to the bald Master Bob, Blue Pegasus' Guildmaster, a pale man in bright clothes with red lipstick. The two sat to Makarov, who was happily talking about Fairy Tail.

'So, you can still get your brats out of trouble with the council, eh?' asked Goldmine.

'Like that's a big deal,' Makarov dismissed. 'We're still doing jobs for them, aren't we?'

'Yeah, I hear you got your grandson doing a number. They seem to like him,' Goldmine said.

He nodded. 'It's hard not to and Hope's been a big help getting the council off my back.'

The man made to speak, before remembering something 'You know, I've been meaning to ask. That kid looked kinda familiar, not sure why...he looks like someone I met...'

'And who would that be?' Bob asked, curious.

Goldmine frowned 'Ah...never mind...can't remember.'

'Anyway, I'd say we're doing just fine,' Makarov said, deciding that it was best to change the subject. 'And...' A dove flew to him, holding a letter. 'Huh, wonder what this is about.'

He opened it and a hologram of Mirajane appeared, smiling at everyone. 'Hello, Master. I hope everything's okay.'

'You're one lucky dog, having her in your place,' Goldmine smirked.

'Really, she's as adorable as ever!' Bob said and it seemed the others agreed, having gathered when they saw her. It wasn't a surprise as Mirajane was a famous mage now.

Makarov grinned at the men before looking back as Mira continued. 'Everything's okay here. I just wanted to tell you that Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy, Happy and Hope have become a team. Erza took them on a job yesterday. Seems like it could be Fairy Tail's strongest team, don't you think?'

'With those...' Goldmine raised an eye, noticing that Makarov had gone as rigid as a statue, both not even noticing that Mirajane had ended the letter. 'Oi, Makarov, you okay there?'

'My, that's quite the surprise...' said Bob.

'This is too much,' Makarov groaned. '...It's pretty much our most destructive members put together...'

The new team was on the track, having gotten Natsu off the train but being too late to stop it. They were wondering why Eisenwald would go on a train and what their true objective was.

'We know what Lullaby is but this is big trouble...didn't that train go somewhere near Clover Town?' Gray asked.

'Oshibana Town, yeah. But what could they be up to?' Happy responded.

'Well, we know there's no point in wondering about this.' Erza mounted the Magic Four Wheeler. 'Come on.'

'We can always go this way.' Hope surrounded Lucy and Natsu with a translucent pale grey sphere. 'Come on, guys, just get in.'

Gray shrugged 'All righty then.' He stepped in and Erza followed.

'So, what is this exactly?' asked Lucy.

'It's called Star shield and as for what it does besides the obvious...' Hope took out his wings and the sphere levitated with him. 'This way you guys can fight if we run into anyone and it won't be affected. Ready?'

'You need to ask? Let's get those guys!' Natsu said.

He laughed 'All right.' The sphere followed Hope as he flew, both going at great speed.

'Hey, this is the first time I fly without my wings. Feels nice,' Happy said.

'It certainly is a unique spell,' Erza put in.

Gray gave her a look 'Would you relax? Hope's just being his typical old self and looking out for everyone and yeah we know that four wheeler runs on magic.'

'Hold on, but won't that just take a lot of his magic power?' Lucy asked, worried.

'Nah, Hope's got plenty of power to spare. He knows what he's doing. Trust me,' Natsu said, knowing that Star Shield doesn't affect the boy's power much.

'Would you guys slow down?!' Gray called after Natsu and Erza, who had gone off to search for Eisenwald the second they reached Oshibana Town. While that was good, their methods were bad. Why? Because Natsu practically attacked the first suspicious people he saw and Erza went interrogating the Rune knights she found stationed outside a building, only to knock them out when they were unable to answer her questions.

'This is ridiculous...'

'Overkill...' Lucy muttered.

'I think they're running a contest!' Happy said.

'Why're you acting so pleased?!'

'Jeez, where are those Eisenwald guys?!' Natsu wondered.

'Looking for us, flies?' Erigor's voice came from the top of the radio tower. There they could see the man flying in a cross legged position, looking perfectly relaxed. 'You really don't know when to quit, do you?'

'Who the hell are you?' The fire dragon slayer demanded.

Hope noticed Lullaby in his arm '...You're that ace, Erigor, right?'

He smirked as the rest of the Eisenwald guild joined him, making a fairly large group 'Glad you there's someone who has half a brain here. Yeah, that's me and I can see you're the weak fairies who think they can stop us.'

Erza grimaced 'What are you planning? What do you want with that flute?'

'Isn't it obvious? To administer punishment.' Erigor replied.

'Punishment?'

'People now live happy with all their right and freedom. I'm going to use this flute's song of death and punish them for not knowing that there are others who had those simple but important things stolen from them.'

'But that's never going to get you your rights back!' Lucy pointed out.

'Who says I want them?' Erigor asked with that same smirk on his face. 'What I'm after now is power. Power that will help me rewrite history and change the future.'

Kageyama stepped up 'We're going to bring the age of Dark Guilds. Too bad you won't live to see it, you're just going to see the afterlife.' He suddenly charged, aiming a fist at Lucy...

...only to be kicked in the chest by Natsu, who was now more than ready to pay the man back for his actions on the train.

Erza saw that Erigor was leaving 'Natsu, Gray, we can't let him escape. After him!'

'Yeah!' The two ran, taking opposite paths towards their enemies' leader.

'W-wait, so...' Lucy looked back at the slowly approaching members of the guild. 'How are we going to deal with all of them?'

'Easily.' Erza drew her sword while Hope assumed a fighting stance.

'Just do your best and we'll help you out. There's no backing out now.' said Hope.

Feeling a bit better after the boy's words and realizing he was right, Lucy nodded 'Right.' She took out a golden key. 'Gate of the Crab, I open thee! Cancer!'

Out of the light emerged a humanoid crab wearing a blue shirt and black pants and shoes with green sunglasses and a pair of scissors in each hand.

'I'm here,ebi.'

'-Ebi?' Happy repeated. 'He's a crab so why's he saying shrimp?'

'Let's take those guys out!' Lucy said.

'Leave it to me, ebi.' He took off, scissors at the ready and after quite a few cuts and snips here and there, the Eisenwald members' weapons fell apart.

Their eyes bugged out 'No way!'

'Not bad at all.' Erza said, impressed.

Hope smiled 'Sure is, now...' He somersaulted in time to avoid two enemies trying to sneak up on him and ended up behind them. He then concentrated some power on his foot, making it light up and aimed a kick. This resulted in a crescent shaped wave that knocked them both out.

After Cancer's display, a number of the enemies were afraid to continue fighting but the brave ones had decided to stay. Some charged at Hope, who threw a sphere of light into the sky.

'Thousand Ray!'

It burst, stunning them before a number of light ray damaged them even more and knocked them out.

Erza smiled 'As expected.' Her expression changed into a frown when she took note the enemy numbers and decided to do something about it. Concentrating her magic power, her body began to glow as her armor changed...

'Re-equip! Heaven's Wheel Armor!'

The light vanished, revealing Erza in a new silver and white armor with a headband that had two wings. This display was received in a mixture of awe and admiration.

'Erza's getting serious.' Happy said.

'All right now.' The scarlet haired mage drew her new armor's two swords and conjuring a number more with her magic and going into a devastating spin 'Circle Sword!'

The move knocked out many and hurt more, it was very powerful. Lucy stared at Erza 'Incredible...no wonder she's an S-class mage...'

While their friends were busy dealing with the rest of Eisenwald, Natsu and Gray had gone up to the radio tower but took different routes. Gray went to the broadcast room, thinking that Erigor's plan was to broadcast Lullaby's tune.

'Well, it seems a little fairy is wandering about.' The ice mage whirled around at the sound but found nothing there.

Above him though was a man in a yellow and black beanie with similarly colored clothes. He was suspended from the roof. There were black bands around his fingers elongating as he paused to attack. When he did, they lashed out like numerous whips, all of which Gray managed to dodge.

This attracted his attention to his assailant 'Good instincts.' The man known as Rayule said. 'You'll be a nuisance.'

Gray dodged another attack, noticing that Rayule didn't care about destroying the radio station's equipment. 'Why did you take over this place when you clearly don't need it?'

Rayule scoffed 'As if I'm going to tell you, Urumi!' He sent out the black bands again only for Gray to freeze them solid.

'Now before I turn you into a popsicle I'm going to try this again, what're your plans?' He asked, gripping Rayule's collar.

Despite the trouble he was in, the Eisenwald member was managing to sneer 'Don't think you're so tough! Just wait till we're done. You won't have a choice anyway, Erigor-san probably just finished casting the Wind Wall that will trap you troublesome fairies here while we go play Lullaby to the Guildmasters meeting in Clover Town.'

'Say what?!' Gray demanded. That's what they were up to? This was really bad...

'Scared? You should be! We're going to get revenge on all the legal guilds for ostracizing us!' Rayule cackled.

The fairy tail mage scowled. 'You're going to pay for trying to hurt our parents. There are guilds way more frightening than dark ones.' He took up the ice making position, with his knees bent and a fisted hand over an open palm as cold air materialized around him.

'Ice make: Knuckle!'

As the name said, a number of icy blue knuckles struck their target and left Rayule frozen in his place.


	4. Chapter 4

Erza grit her teeth as her attempts to break through Erigor's Wind Wall failed, no wonder the man was so confident. They were trapped with no way out.

She turned at the sound of her name and found Gray running over to her. He wasted no time in telling her about Eisenwald's plan to dispose of the masters in Clover town.

The requip mage grit her teeth. 'Then we have to hurry. There's no time to lose.'

Gray looked at the vicious torrent of wind before them 'How? That thing looks like it could tear apart any thing that goes against it.'

'Seals!'

'Huh?'

'Magic seals!' Erza elaborated. 'I heard one of the Eisenwald members can disperse seals! He's one of the three who ran in the tower, I think Lucy and the others went after him.'

'Gotcha, let's go catch us a bad guy.'

Lucy sighed 'Hey, guys, let's go back.'

She had been wandering around the tower with Hope and Happy, trying to find the Kageyama Erza had asked them to apprehend but so far no luck. 'I mean we looked everywhere.'

Oddly enough, the tower seemed almost empty. They had yet to run into anyone ever since they came in.

'You're braver than I thought, Lucy.'

'Eh?' She blinked confusedly at Happy.

'Well, you're willing to oppose that Erza.' The cat elaborated with a shrug. 'We all know she can get violent if displeased and failing now...' He purposely trailed off. 'Well, you get the point. But hey, it's your funeral.'

'O-on second thought, we can't drop out now. What kind of example would we be setting? We've gotta get those creeps!' Lucy said, marching off.

Hope sweat dropped 'I think you might have gone too far...'

'Well, she's motivated, right?' Happy grinned back.

Down in the station, much crashing and burning sounds could be heard. Why? Natsu's patience had finally run out and he decided to mow everything out of his way. It was just lucky there weren't many flammable things in his path, right?

'This is starting to get old,' he grumbled. 'Where are they?!'

'Oh? You're asking for it.'

Natsu turned in time to see Kageyama emerge out of a shadow in the wall. He grinned 'About time!'

'Yeah, for you to get beat,' the dark guild member shot back.

Gray and Erza arrived at the station to see something crash into a wall with enough force to wreck the whole thing 'What was that?'

'That idiot went too far again...' The ice mage muttered. '...Say, is that the Kage you said can get us out of here?'

'Yeah,' Erza marched up to the man and dislodged him from the wall. 'Wake up! We need you to undo the seal!'

'O-oy...' Gray said as she continued to shake the man vigorously, correctly guessing that he was too scared to speak.

'Hey, when'd you guys get here?' Natsu said, pleased with his work.

'You heard me, get rid of this wall!' Erza urged, pointing needlessly at the wall of wind surrounding the station.

'Okay, fine...I'll do it,' Kageyama managed to say.

The last group of their team arrived in time to see a hand emerge from the wall and stab Kageyama's chest and slowly a man came out of there. The man's eyes widened in shock when he saw that it was one of this own guildmates that struck to kill him. But the man in question just smirked.

'Wha...'

'No way...'

Kageyama fell and the man said. 'Mission cleared.'

'Mission?' Lucy said.

'We don't have any use for someone who would disrupt the plan,' he responded. 'I was supposed to take him out.'

He was then punched by an enraged Natsu 'Wasn't he your nakama, you bastard?!'

Erigor was well on his way to Clover Town while the group was trying to make their way through the wall of wind, but all of their attempts were repelled almost immediately.

'What do we do?' Lucy said.

'There's got to be some way we can get out...' Erza grit her teeth.

Natsu's face lit up 'Hey, I know! Lucy, can't we open a gate to the Celestial World and pass with it?'

'Hey, that could work!' Happy looked at the girl.

'No way,' she shot them down. 'The gate just open where the Celestial Mage is, humans can't pass through it...'

'Oh, man...'

Happy cried out then, startling them. 'I completely forgot!'

'W-what?'

'Lucy, Virgo gave me her key but I forgot to give it to you!' The cat continued, taking out a golden key from his bag and handing it over.

She gave him a look 'Not that I'm not glad about this, but how will it help?'

Recalling what Natsu told him about their mission to Duke Everlue's mansion, Hope said 'Virgo can dig in the ground, right?'

'Oh!' Lucy snapped her fingers. 'Nice going, Happy.'

The cat smiled and she added. 'We got this covered. Gate of the Maiden, I open thee, Virgo!' The key shone, letting out a pillar of light. Out of it emerged the Celestial Spirit.

'Natsu, she's completely different from what you said,' Hope said.

'I know!' The dragon slayer gaped. 'I swear, she looked like a gorilla before! What's going on?'

'Yeah!' Even Lucy seemed shocked. 'How come your appearance changed so much?'

Virgo looked at her 'I am a loyal Celestial Spirit to my owner. I work in whatever appearance you'd like me to.'

'Huh...'

'Or would you prefer this one?' She changed to the huge, gorilla like woman they had first seen her as, freaking everyone out.

'See? That's what I meant,' Natsu said to his best friend.

'Okay, point taken...'

'I think I speak for all of us when I say your other look is better.' Gray informed with a quick nod from Lucy.

'All right, then.' Virgo changed back. 'Would you like to make a contract, Princess?'

'Not now, we need you to get us out. We're really short on time!' Lucy said.

'Understood,' the spirit began digging.

'All right, we have to...' Erza blinked. 'Where are Natsu and Happy?'

Lucy looked around, seeing that they were actually gone. They had no trouble getting out of the station, thanks to Virgo's hole but she hadn't noticed the two leaving...

'Where could they be?'

Hope just sighed, exasperated with their missing teammates. 'Erza, think about what you just said.'

She paused and then facepalmed, realizing the answer was right in front of her. 'They must've gone after Erigor.'

'No problem, just one thing.' He went on to cast a minor healing spell on Kageyama.

The man sat up 'You're helping me now? Why? I can't be a bargaining chip...'

'If you want to die, then just say the word.' Gray cut in. 'If not then shut up. Not everything has to be life and death, just think about what you want to do when this is over.'

Hope surrounded them with a Star Shield and took off, with the spell following him.

'That was fast,' Lucy said. '...He must be worried about Master.'

'Yeah, who blames him? We've gotta hurry,' Gray said.

With Happy's Max Speed, he and Natsu had caught to Erigor in Clover Canyon in good time. The man had seemed a bit surprised to see them but brushed it off and attacked.

'Your puny fire is about to put out by the power of wind!' Erigor said. 'You don't stand a chance, brat!'

'Says you!' Natsu countered, his fists lighting up with fire. 'I'm just getting started.'

But his next attack was also warded off by the shield of wind his opponent dubbed Storm Mail. Happy frowned 'Natsu, just try something different!'

'Like what?'

'I don't know! Uh...'

'You two done over there?' Erigor called. 'Good, Storm Bringer!'

A magic circle flashed under Natsu, raising a tornado that swept the dragon slayer off his feet and sent him spinning.

'Natsu!'

'It's over! Emera Baram!'

Happy's eyes widened as the new spell struck its target and Erigor cackled.

'No way...'

'This is all that famous Salamander can do? Pathetic.'

'Oy,' the man's eyes widened and he saw Natsu emerge out of the smoke 'Who do you think you're calling pathetic, huh? Don't underestimate me.'

He struck the man with a kick, nailing him off guard. Erigor grimaced, using Storm Mail again before using storm blades which Natsu managed to dodge.

Happy then had an idea. 'Say, Natsu, don't you think he's right?'

'Huh?'

'I mean, you obviously don't stand a chance against him.' The cat said, surprising him.

'Oh,' Erigor stopped to listen, amused.

'Your attacks are hardly working, you know?' Happy said.

'How can you say that, Happy? I'm not letting him get away!' Natsu said.

'I never said we would. I was just thinking maybe Gray could handle this better,' the two males were oblivious to the devious look in Happy's eyes. 'Hm, yeah, I'd say he can turn this guy into a popsicle in about five minutes.'

That sentence was the breaking point for Natsu. 'You think ice boy can do this better? Fat chance!' He was surrounded by a great torrent of flames that swirled around him, making Erigor's eyes widen in shock.

'What the...'

'I won't lose!' Natsu launched a combo of fire enhanced punches at the man.

'What do you think you're doing? This won't work,' Erigor said as his enemy continued his attack.

Happy smirked 'You sure?'

Erigor then saw something was off. Natsu's flames seemed to be eating away at his wall. He had obviously forgotten that fire absorbs oxygen, which would render his wind useless soon.

But it was a little too late to realize that, as proven by the following.

'Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!' The fiery tackle from the dragon slayer finally felled his enemy.

'All right!'

Their friends had arrived not too late after he won. Hope saw the unconscious Erigor first and smiled 'Nice going, knew you had it in you.'

Natsu grinned and they shared a high five. 'Thanks, though someone said Gray could beat this guy when I couldn't...'

Happy looked nervous. 'It was all good, right? You nailed him.'

'Guess so.'

'You just wanted to rile him up and power up his fire, huh?' Hope asked.

The cat grinned sheepishly 'You found out?'

'Hey!' Lucy came then. 'You guys, we've got to go. Kageyama took the flute!'

'What?!'

'I think he's still going through with that plan, let's go!'

Kageyama was now in the forest just before the Guild Master's meeting hall, Lullaby in his grip. He couldn't abandon the mission after all, they had worked hard for this time and he would make sure the age of dark guilds came to pass.

He then found, to his surprise, none other than Fairy Tail's master Makarov reading a magazine right before him. The man started 'I-I swear this isn't what it looks like!'

Kageyama decided to ignore that. 'Say, I've been practicing this new song. Would you listen to it?'

'Hm?'

Team Natsu arrived then. 'There he is!' Happy said.

'Oi, hold it!' Natsu said.

'Wait up now,' Goldmine and Bob walked up to them. 'Relax, he's got this.'

'But...' Lucy was cut off when Bob started flirting with the boys and she facefaulted. ''This is Blue Pegasus' master? Really?''

Hope had his full attention at his grandfather and Kageyama, smiling when Makarov pointed out a number of the things they had to the man when they were in the hole. That he didn't have to go through with this after all, that he had better options and since he had already been through all this, he had a good chance at starting fresh after receiving punishment for his actions.

The man's kind tone and lack of anger had Kageyama crying and dropping to his knees. The rest smiled at the scene too, thinking that every thing was going to be fine.

'Honestly,' a new voice said. 'Humans are pathetic! This is all it took to appease this trash?'

Everyone was shocked to learn that the voice was coming from Lullaby, which was currently levitating in mid-air, its three eye holes glowing.

'Whoa!'

'It's talking?' Kageyama stepped back.

'Hmph, of course I am. Let me show you the power you just gave up.' A great magic circle flashed over it and slowly the flute assumed a demonic form, towering over them all.

'What the...'

'Monster!' Lucy cried.

'What is this?' Erza asked.

'Lullaby was created by the darkest mage of all time, Zeref, through living magic,' Goldmine said.

'All right then,' Lullaby rumbled. 'Whose soul should I take first?...Might as well take them all!'

Natsu, Gray, Erza and Hope all rushed towards the new enemy. The S-class mage reacted first.

'Re-equip!' Her body glowed as she concentrated her power, her armor disappeared and was replaced by a new silver and white one. 'Heaven's Wheel Armor!'

This got a great reaction from the crowd. Most of the men had hearts in place of their eyes 'So, this is Titania's re-equip magic?'

'Marvelous!'

'I'll say!'

'What is that?' asked Lucy.

'Erza can equip all sorts of powerful armors for a fight. It's some strong magic.' Happy said.

The redhead drove this point through by unleashing her attacks on Lullaby. Natsu used this opportunity to climb up on the demon and kick its face. Lullaby attempted to retaliate but it was then hit by a blast of light courtesy of Hope. The angered enemy fired a number of energy blasts at the fire and light mages, which they aptly dodged.

'Incredible, they're completely in sync with each other...' Lucy said.

'Hey, I didn't know they could do that!' Happy admitted.

Seeing that the blasts were heading towards the observers, Gray reacted quickly and cast 'Ice make: Shield!'

True to word, a shield of ice materialized before them to stop Lullaby's attack.

'That's Creation magic?'

'And so fast!'

'Amazing...'

But Gray wasn't done 'Ice make: Lance!'

Icy lances shot out from his spot towards Lullaby. Erza changed armors to a black one, dubbed the Black Wing armor and slashed.

Hope created a great sphere of light and placed in his palm, it changed into a bow and arrow which he aimed at Lullaby 'White Star!'

The arrow shot off, it seemed small at first but then it grew in size until it was half of Lullaby's height, making the spectators' eyes bug out.

'That kid's a light mage!'

'When did he...'

'That's some insane magic.'

'Seriously...I didn't know Hope was so strong...' Lucy admitted.

The blast ended up taking out Lullaby's legs out, shocking them more. 'All right, my turn.' Natsu grinned, bringing the flames on his hands together.

'Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!'

The ensuing fire blast was the final blow that took out Lullaby, leaving just the flute behind.

'Man, I didn't think this would happen,' Gray said, eyeing the flute with slight wariness.

'No joke, this is living magic, huh?' Lucy said, then noticing that Makarov had froze. 'Master? You okay?'

'No, I'm not! I can't believe this happened...you just...' he seemed to struggle to get his words.

'Relax, grandpa,' Hope began.

'How can I? You just wrecked the hall and...' Makarov stopped as Hope steered him gently towards the hall shrouded in smoke from the battle. He was stumped when he saw it standing without any sign of damage. Then the answer to his unasked question was clear when a dome of translucent white light flashed once around the building before disappearing. '...Oh, that's what you meant.'

'Yup, sorry I didn't get to the rest of the place in time. I figured we could use it,' Hope admitted.

'I think you just saved our butts again, man,' Gray said.

'He did,' Makarov confirmed.

Goldmine chuckled. 'I wouldn't worry about that part. We can always do a little landscaping.'

Happy smiled at the praise they were receiving from everyone who had seen the battle. They had just gotten their first taste of Fairy tail's power and were clearly impressed. That was sure to lift the opinion on their guild up.

'What're you doing there?' Natsu asked as he and Hope walked over.

Makarov glanced at him before looking back a colorless shard of glass in his hand. 'Just working on something...'

'Master says he found this on his way over. It's weird but I don't think it's glass...anything he did didn't even scratch it,' Lucy explained.

'Oh, yeah? Lemme try,' Natsu tried burning it but the shard stayed exactly the same.

'See? We've been working on this for a while and nothing happens.' Goldmine said.

'Weird...'

Taking it from the dragon slayer, Hope began inspecting the item. He unconsciously placed a hand on his chest. He had seen this thing before, that was sure of it. Where and when?

A sudden heat snapped him from his thoughts and he saw that the shard was glowing white, to everyone's surprise. The item levitated and shot an energy blast at Hope, surrounding him in a white aura.

'Wh-what's going on?' asked Happy.

'What sort of magic is this?' Erza asked.

'I don't know. Hope, are you all right?' Makarov asked once the aura faded.

He nodded, completely lost for words. The shard had now changed color to a sparkling white as it landed on his hands. Then...the strangest thing, it was as he found something he had lost ages ago. What was this feeling...should he know this item?


End file.
